Wayne, NJ [March 4, 2010] – Harvey J. Sugerman, MD, FACS, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Editor-in-Chief, “Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases”, will deliver the 18th Annual Vincent Feliciano, MD, Memorial Lecture on Saturday, March 20th in the Meyer Conference Center at St. Joseph’s Wayne Hospital (SJWH) in Wayne, NJ, beginning at 8:30 a.m.   Dr. Sugerman will speak on “Effects of Surgical Weight Loss on Obesity Co-Morbidities.”

The Vincent Feliciano, MD, Memorial Lecture was established by the Feliciano Family in 1993 to honor the memory of the caring and dedicated physician who practiced medicine and surgery at Wayne General Hospital, now known as St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital, and in private practice in Hawthorne for fifty years (1940-1989).  The Memorial Lecture is held annually at St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital and is sponsored by the Feliciano Family, The SJWH Foundation and Department of Surgery.  St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center is accredited by the Medical Society of NJ to provide continuing medical education for physicians.  St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). 

In his lecture, Dr. Sugerman will discuss current operations that will cause weight loss, describe how weight loss occurs after bariatric operations, and assess how obesity co-morbidities decrease after bariatric operations.

Dr. Sugerman has gained an international reputation for treating obesity with gastric bypass surgery.  He has written more than 230 articles, 59 book chapters in medical textbooks and 20 books, and has spoken at more than 520 presentations before national and learned societies.  A partial list of his areas of clinical interest includes surgery of inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s Disease), surgery for obesity, laparoscopic GI surgery, pancreatic surgery, trauma surgery, and critical care. 

He was included as a “Best Doctors in America” from 1999 – 2003, was twice awarded the Arnold Salzburg Chief Resident’s Teaching Award, and is also a life member of the ‘National Registry of Who’s Who’, among other honors and awards.  In 2004, Dr. Sugerman and several of his patients were profiled as part of a yearlong National Geographic project on obesity.

If you have an interest in this field, you will want to attend Dr. Sugerman’s presentation.  Registration is FREE, seating is limited.  Please call the St. Joseph’s Wayne Hospital Foundation at 973.956.3304.

St. Joseph’s Wayne Hospital, an acute care community hospital in Wayne, NJ, is a member of St. Joseph’s Healthcare System, which also encompasses St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center and St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Paterson, NJ, St. Vincent’s Nursing Home, in Cedar Grove, NJ, and Visiting Health Services of NJ, in Totowa, NJ.  For information about the programs and services of St. Joseph’s Healthcare System, sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, visit our website, www.StJosephsHealth.org, or call 877.757.SJHS (7547).